The present invention relates to an automatic tooling machine of the type in which a tool drum is automatically exchanged along a track between the body of the machine and a drum storage rack.
Known such automatic tooling machines have required the manual replacement of tool drums when the machine is to perform a tooling operation requiring a tool not carried by the particular tool drum already mounted in place. The tool drum is normally mounted on a rotary center shaft, and the exchange of tool drums is a difficult operation since the tool drum must be substantially moved axially thereof and then lifted, for example by means of a hoist. This inherently results in a considerable length of downtime of the overall machine, and also presents several safety hazards to the workers involved.
Furthermore, in known automatic tooling machines of this type, rotation of the tool drum is normally achieved by a hydraulic motor via a complicated reduction gearing system. This arrangement is disadvantageous due to the complicated structure involved, the large size of such structure, and the high cost thereof.
Additionally, in such known automatic tooling machines, the various tools supported by a given tool drum are not precisely equally spaced around the circumference of the tool drum. Therefore, the indexing of the tool drum between tool removal positions about the circumference thereof has in the past required a complicated and expensive special indexing or control mechanism.